Meet Shallow Alcove and Picture Us Tiny, Your Spring Madhouse Headliners

Article By Olivia Friess, University Union Editorial Board Executive Editor | Photo By Hellen Elizando

“The long and short of it is everything,” says Shallow Alcove frontman and guitarist Dan Harris when asked about what Syracuse meant to him as a school and as a city. “It’s just the perfect place to meet people that are destined to be in your life [that you will] make music with forever,” adds frontwoman Grace Krichbaum.

On Friday May 3rd, Syracuse University’s Bandier Program will be inviting former student bands Shallow Alcove and Picture Us Tiny back to the town that started it all for their careers. The program is putting on the first installment of their annual Spring Madhouse concert series at The Song & Dance in downtown Syracuse. The show functions as a homecoming for these bands as they return to a crowd of some of their first fans, former classmates and professors, and current students. Krichbaum’s high school chorus teachers will even be in attendance, marking a full circle moment for the Syracuse native.

Photo By Emily Yen

The event has undoubtedly inspired a wave of nostalgia for not only the bands, but for everyone involved as another school year comes to a close. “Coming back [to Syracuse during my] junior year, it was like an explosion. There was such a want for live music again — a want for house shows… I'm so grateful to have been a part of that because it was so fundamental in just developing what Picture Us Tiny is,” reflects Jackson Velli, frontman of Picture Us Tiny. All of the band members performing at Spring Madhouse graduated from between the years 2021 and 2023, meaning that each of the artists saw the scene get put on hold during the 2020 pandemic. “I’m sure it’ll always be evolving, but it was like an indie Mecca when we were there. We were so lucky to be surrounded by all these people and supported by them,” said Harris. “It’s so sick [to just be] in a place where you’re surrounded by all these twenty-something-year-old kids who were all the ‘weird music kid’ in high school.”

Current Syracuse University student Giulianna Iapalucci will be joining Shallow Alcove at Spring Madhouse as their drummer. Iapalucci has previously played multiple shows with the band despite the fact that they didn’t go to Syracuse University at the same time. When asked what it means to be part of such a full-circle moment for Shallow Alcove, Iapalucci said, “It feels great! I know they’re really excited and I know they really value the time they had here. This place is the reason for their meeting and their band, so I know this is really exciting for them and I’m just happy to jump in whenever I can.” Iapalucci also added, “[The] first ever gig that I played with them was the one at [the Syracuse house show venue] The Garden like a year ago. Their usual drummer, Noah Dadaris, couldn’t make it and they needed a fill in. I knew Peter and Jack already, but I had never met Dan and Grace before. They hit me up and were like, ‘Hey, we need a fill in,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ I was fangirling! I was a fan of Shallow [Alcove] before I ever started playing with them.”

Even the lineup itself functions as a call-back to the roots of the bands, with Velli adding, “The very end of [my] sophomore year was the very first Picture Us Tiny show we did, and it was basically the first house show since COVID started, and it was with Shallow Alcove on their porch. It’s a very full-circle [moment],” says Velli on the happy coincidence.

Photos By Anthony Cardenas

It’s no secret that Syracuse and its inspiring, vibrant music scene are special. Just ask Clairo… or The Chainsmokers… or Charlie Burg… or Claud… or even Lou Reed. But it is hard to fully describe just what’s “in the water” up here, and what invigorates such an explosion of not only art, but of die-hard supporters of this art. “I think [it’s that] we’re all just pushed inside while it blizzards for 12 months of the year and we’re forced to sit with our thoughts and emotions. We’re like, ‘Damn, these are really potent… What can we do? Put ‘em in a song and play it for our friends,’ ” jokes Harris. “Syracuse just has such a special energy to it. We could’ve all ended up at the same college, but if it wasn’t Syracuse, this might not have happened. It was just [the] right place, right time, right everything,” says Krichbaum, contemplating Shallow Alcove's beginnings.

Be sure to catch Picture Us Tiny, Shallow Alcove, and student DJs Waffle Vaflya and Snides TONIGHT at The Song & Dance starting at 6:00 PM. Tickets are still available online and will be sold at the door until 7:00 PM. Bring some friends, support your peers, enjoy some live music, and get a feel of the Syracuse energy!

Photo By Anthony Cardenas